Customers who had accounts with the ‘football stock market’ Football Index are once again free to withdraw the cash balance they held in their accounts, worth roughly £3.5m in total, as a result of a court ruling last month.
The ruling only applied to account balances, however, rather than any other money such as the value of active bets.
Players have been advised to allow between two and ten working days from the date of the withdrawal request for the money to appear in their bank account.
Football Index has said it will directly contact any customers who require any additional information to withdraw funds. Withdrawals will only be possible via the operator’s website, as it has suspended its mobile apps.
Players had been unable to access funds in their account since the platform’s operator BetIndex went into administration back in March.
Administrators began the claims process in April, and the government announced an inquiry into the platform’s collapse shortly after.
The case was taken to the High Court, which would help decide how to reimburse players from Football Index’s player protection account, which contained around £4.5m.
This fund was meant only for funds held in players’ accounts on the site, but the court ruling was required to work out the cut-off date for winnings to be paid until. The court ultimately selected 26 March, when the administration process officially began, as this date, meaning about £3.5m is to be paid out.
However, the status of funds that were spent on bets that remain active – known as player “portfolios” and comprising a much greater sum than the total of account funds – has not yet been determined.
A Company Voluntary Agreement was drawn up to resolve this, through which Football Index harboured ambitions of relaunching the platform, with customers being offered a 50% stake in the business.
